


That One Time During Summer

by reapersQuail



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: M/M, Merfolk AU, Summer AU, ygoshipolympics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-04-06 08:09:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4214460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reapersQuail/pseuds/reapersQuail
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summer blows. School sucks. Gross humid summer homes also suck. Ryoga finds a giant fish near a sandy cliff. At least, he thinks its a giant fish. The ocean has lots of fish in it. It HAS to be a fish, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	That One Time During Summer

Summer wasn't bad, per say, but it wasn't his favorite season either. Ryoga Kamishiro just didn't like the heat. He didn't like how sticky everything got, how humid, how gross everything got. And it happened every year. Every. Year. And this year was no different. Not at all.

And every year he had to wait it out to go back to school. That also sucked. But this year. This year.

This year it was decided to go back to the horrible house out in the middle of nowhere by the sea that had no technology.

Sure the beach could be cool, when it didn't burn your feet, or the seaweed was everywhere, and if you ignored the trash, and the tourists, and crabs. Especially the crabs. They were like mean squirrels.

There were outlets in the walls, but his parents refused to let him bring anything other than a phone and a gaming device. Everything else was a big no. even Rio wasn't allowed to bring anything. It was doomed to misery.

And he would be stuck in this house, this gross humid beachy house for 4 months. 4 months of this.

He was going to die. He knew it. This was the end. The end couldn't come fast enough. He didn't like visiting when he was little, and he sure as hell wouldn't enjoy it now. Nothing could make this trip worth it.

Except. During the first day of settling in, he roamed the beach, refusing to be in the house longer than he had to, (might as well enjoy it, right), and saw something beyond the huge sand cliff at the edge of the beach. Something that looked like a large fish.

He scoffed at the thought. A large fish. Yeah. There's fish everywhere. It's the fucking ocean, that's where they live.

But there was nothing better to do other than ponder about big fish and wander along the beach. And before he knew it, his legs had carried him to the sandy cliff. He glanced around. He was pretty far from the house and the main parts of the beach, there were no footprints, but there were lots of crabs. And seaweed. And GOOD FUCKING GODS WHAT ITS THAT.

His eyes meet with another pair, staring at him when he looked around the corner. But. What the hell were they on? What is that? What could it...

A...merperson? Merman? Mershark? Mer...WHAT.

Sitting on a small segment of sandy outcropping, a merperson was staring back, holding a squirming fish in their hands. Long pink bangs framed a small, beautifully tanned, round face with red eyes. The rest of their hair was dark blue and shoulder length. The fishy bits were red and pink with some splotches of blue. A gold necklace hung from their neck, in the shaped of something like a T with an extra bar in the middle. They looked like they could be male, but weren't merfolk typically female? Or genderless? Or something? NOT REAL?

Ryoga stared for a good long while, holding gaze with the merperson. His mouth opened slowly.

"AAAAAAAH!" He screeched. What was going on!

"AAAH!" The merperson screeched back, equally as loud, and sounding just as confused.

"What, why, what are you? What?" Ryoga couldn't form words, this was too weird. This was, what the fuck, this wasn't something normal.

The merperson shoved the fish in their face and scuttled under the water, staring.

He had to laugh, nervously, but he had to laugh. The merperson was nibbling on the fish as they stared. They looked like a nervous child.

This was surreal.

He sat down on a large chunk of weathered driftwood, head in his hands.

"This is unreal." He glanced back at the water. There they were, still nibbling. "Ha. HA HA." He stared at the sand between his feet, mind still processing. A crab walked by and pinched at his shoe laces.

He sat for a good long while. This is ridiculous. Absurd.

He eventually left and headed back inside the house, going strait to bed and ignoring dinner and Rio. He had to sleep. He had to just brush this off as just one of those things.

A week passed, and Ryoga found himself sitting on top of the sandy cliff more often than not, sitting and staring out into the sea.

Sometimes, he found himself laying just over the edge, hoping to see the merperson again. But yeah right. He imagined that, right? Right?

Merpeople can't be real. It's dumb to think that way.

He saw something break over the water, something that wasn't a crab for once.

He scooted back, fingers just touching the edge of the cliff.

AH! there they were! The merperson. He knew it! He fucking knew it! They were real. Real! Rio would have a laugh at this.

He watched as the merperson slowly climbed out of the water and sat on the sand, another fish it it's grasp.

They raised it to their face to take a bite before stopping, and raising their face to see Ryoga, staring wide-eyed back at them.

And they stared, for a long moment. The merperson slowly raised the fish and took a bite.

"Um..." Ryoga started to speak. He found it hard. Could you even be attracted to something that wasn't real? Well, even if you can't be, he was. "Hi." He meekly said, wiggling the fingers on his right hand.

The merperson swallowed the fish. "Hello." They replied.

Ryoga scooted a little closer to the edge of the sand cliff, his hair brushing past and dangling off the edge. He had never been so intrigued by anything in his life.

Weeks went by, and Ryoga had learned things about the merperson. They became fast friends. He learned that their name was Yuma, and they were male. Didn't stop the attraction, Yuma was gorgeous. Yuma was shy around humans, and rightfully so. Merpeople are...something you don't see everyday. Let alone actually befriend. Yuma was outgoing, very boisterous when in friendly company, and Ryoga found this out quickly. Yuma was loud, and noisy and playful. Yuma loved fish and squid, and the occasional octopus, and was curious about human food, but had never had the courage or means to try some out for himself. Maybe it was for the best, human food could be horrible, but on the other hand, it was the only thing that Ryoga had ever eaten.

His Parents and Rio constantly asked where he was going, and he always told them the same thing: To the beach. He wasn't lying, not at all. Yuma was at the beach, it was just different places, and not always at the beach 100 percent of the time. Stay home once and a while, eat with the family, spend time with your sister, etc etc. But Ryoga was just too interested in Yuma to care. There was the rest of the year for that. Thinking about it hurt him a little, but it was the truth.

When he did remember that he wasn't always going to be at the beachy house, he tired to think of other things. Life was so good right now that Yuma was here. So much better than it had been. 4 months suddenly went from being too long, to being too short. Much too short.

Earlier in the day, Ryoga had a long trip to the small road mart that was nearby. Nearby meaning about a mile or so out. Nothing was near anything here. Even if this was a spot for tourists, everything was far away. He was going to pick up some interesting for Yuma to drink. He never thought about doing it before, mostly because they didn't have much in the house, mostly water. Pretty much only water. And alcohol, but Ryoga wasn't interested in the brandy or the vodka.

"What do you drink? I mean, when you're thirsty? You can't drink saltwater, can you?"

It was a simple enough question, and one that demanded an answer. There was water everywhere, it was the ocean, but what exactly did a merperson drink?

Yuma smiled and laughed. "We don't drink anything. We get what we need from fish and squid."

A diet of fish and squid water sounded...kind of gross. Ryoga wanted to get him to try other things. Even if Yuma didn't like them, it would be fun to see his reactions to the different drinks.

Ryoga had brought along the airtight container that his father used for fishing trips. He stowed all the food and drinks inside, making sure nothing would get smashed or shaken up too badly. He was ecstatic.

Yuma had taken them around the beach before, holding hands and swimming under the waves to go to new places. It was fun. It was special. It made Ryoga happy. He smiled more when he was around Yuma, and he knew it. And he had asked to go to a new place today, with the makeshift lunch box.

Ryoga had borrowed a large coil of rope from his father to tie around the box so that he wouldn't lose it. Everything else he had planned on brining, spare clothes, a blanket, a spare water bottle of water, or two or three, was stuffed into the more-or-less-waterproof backpack that he had also borrowed from his father. The backpack had been reliable, for the most part, so his father had more or less given it to him for use of the rest of the summer. It was in his possession more often than not.

He met up with Yuma near the sandy cliff, and couldn't help but smile when he saw Yuma running his fingers through his hair while waiting.

"What's with that face?" Yuma spoke up, staring back at him.

"Oh, uh..." Ryoga felt his face burning, this was weird.

Yuma only smiled.

The plan today was to swim out to a far island in the ocean. Ryoga was nervous, but knowing that Yuma was there made him feel better. You could see the island from the sandy cliff, it looked father than it was. Probably. Yuma could swim very well, and Ryoga was banking on that. He didn't know what would happen if he got taken away by a current.

The only gear that Ryoga had brought was a snorkeling mask, and he regretted it. He wish he had brought the small scuba gear with. The waves this far from shore could definitely drown a regular person. But having Yuma holding his hand, pulling him along, knowing that he wasn't going to let go, it made him feel a little better. He gripped Yuma's hand a little harder each time a large wave crashed over his head. There were going to make it, there was no doubt about that, but Ryoga was only human. It was natural to be worried about the open ocean.

They reached the small island without incident, Yuma laughing as Ryoga rolled onto the shore.

"Can...we...never do that...again." He lazily pulled the roped waterproof box until it lodged itself in the damp sand.

"Well, we have to get back, so, sorry, he he." He pushed the watertight box further onto shore. He glanced out at the ocean, a smile still plastered on his face.

Ryoga could only smile at him. Yuma really loved the ocean. Made sense, he was a merperson, they lived there. Perhaps he could love the ocean too.

They went around the island, finding a small inlet of water that lead to a pond in the middle. The inlet was deep enough for Yuma to make it through, thankfully. It was forested enough, and made Ryoga think of the small town that wasn't too far away from his own, covered in trees and tall grass. He spend a lot of time over there when he was little and liked to explore. It wasn't that far, and his parents liked that, they liked it even more because Rio was usually with him when he went.

Ryoga sat at the pond's edge, changing out of the swim short and into dry ones that he had stuffed in the backpack., setting the damp ones over a tree limb that wasn't that far away. He pulled on a loose shirt and stretched. It was really nice here.

So nice.

He glanced at Yuma, who was investigating some reeds. So very nice.

He sighed wistfully as he knelt down, pulling the blanket from the backpack and smoothed it along the ground. Oh. It was Rio's blanket. Oops. He hoped she didn't notice. He sat down and swung his legs into the cool water. It felt nice.

"Hey, I've got something for you." Ryoga opened the watertight box and rummaged around for some drinks, and pulled out a can, holding it in Yuma's direction.

"Oh!" Yuma made his way over and grabbed the can from Ryoga.

Ryoga also grabbed one of the bands that was hanging from his wrist, "Here, this too." He handed the band to Yuma, pointing at his own long hair, tied back in a damp ponytail. "For this."

Yuma took the band, and immediately reached for Ryoga's head, tugging at the ponytail. "Okay."

"AH! No! Not what I had in mind!" Ryoga wheeled in pain. "I meant for you, for your hair." He rubbed his head and pulled out his ponytail. It hurt, but what could he expect. Yuma had been fascinated with the ponytail from the beginning. He said that Ryoga looked like a squid, that he liked it, that it looked tasty.

"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry." Yuma looked away sheepishly.

"Ha ha, It's okay. Didn't hurt that badly. But here, lemme help you." He motioned for Yuma to turn around and began gathering Yuma's inexplicably dry and silky hair in his hands. So soft. He nimbly pulled Yuma's hair together and slipped a black band around it. He set his hands on Yuma's shoulders. "Sorry it's messy. I forgot to bring a comb with me."

Yuma swished his new hairstyle side to side, a smile growing on his face. "This is awesome!"

They sat at the small pond for a while, talking, laughing, Ryoga telling Yuma stories of being human and on land, and Yuma being reluctant to tell Ryoga anything about life in the ocean. He guess he understood. It was still frustrating though. He learned about what it was like being a merperson, but that was about it. Yuma didn't like talking about himself in general, and Ryoga could tell that it made him feel uncomfortable, so he never pressed the issue.

Ryoga helped Yuma open the can that he had given to him, pulling the tab up and pushing it back down.

Yuma put the can to his lips and gulped down some of the mystery liquid before even asking what it was. He swallowed, and his eyes went wide, staring at Ryoga who was laughing. "What. WHAT IS THIS." He glared at Ryoga, demanding an answer.

"I'm sorry! I couldn't help myself!" He opened his own can of drink, a new kind of sport drink that was flavoured strawberry. "It's coffee. I just wanted to see your reaction. If you don't want to finish it, I can always-"

"NO! I mean, you gave it to me, I have to finish it. It's just really bitter." Yuma stared at the can, disdain clearly written on his face.

"It's supposed to be. Even I don't really like coffee, I just deal with it."

"Can I try yours?"

"Yeah, sure." Ryoga held out his can without thinking. Yuma grabbed it and tasted the strawberry drink.

It was sweet. Very sweet. He licked his lips.

"You like sweet things?"

Ryoga took back the can, staring at the top. Uh. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Kind of." Come on, he was old enough that something like that shouldn't bother him, and yet.

For a few hours, the day was pleasant and peaceful, filled with laughter and swimming, with some story telling and shell collecting.

"I wish I could go deep down like you can. Must be awesome living in the ocean like you do." Ryoga stretched his arms over his head as he settled onto a beach. He caught Yuma looking away out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah..." He sounded nervous. He planted his face in his hands.

"Something wrong?" Ryoga crossed his legs. Had he unknowingly upset Yuma? This was bad.

"N-no." Yuma looked back at him, face flushed.

"Are you sure?" Something was wrong.

"I-I just...There is a way."

"Way for what?" Ryoga reached for his backpack.

"For you to be in the ocean." Yuma twirled his fingers around each other, barely making any eye contact.

"There is!" This was incredible! "What? How!"

"Yeah, but..." Yuma glanced up at Ryoga, barely meeting his eyes before burying his face back in his hands. "No, never mind! Forget I said anything!" He took a deep breath. "I'll be right back, 'kay?"

And there he went. Yuma swan out a little ways and then dove under the water, leaving Ryoga to sit in silence, contemplating what had just happened.

Ryoga sat there. For about an hour. Thinking about what had happened. A way to love in the ocean, huh? Sounded nice, but he did like land. Quite a bit. He nibbled at a couple granola bars before he came to a realization.

He can't get back home without Yuma. The sun was setting, and he could be stranded out here on this sandy island overnight. This did not sound appealing.

Calling out into the open ocean, Ryoga heard no response. He called some more. He needed to hear Yuma's voice. He needed to hear anything besides waves crashing along the shore.

Ryoga pulled the blanket around his shoulders. It was getting windy. This sucked. He had some food left, but this still sucked.

Yuma had returned shortly after Ryoga had fallen asleep, taking him back to his house and apologizing for his behavior earlier. They didn't talk about it again until Yuma brought it up a few days later.

"Hey, you remember when I said that there was a way for you to be in the ocean, like me?" Yuma gripped the pendant on his chest. He was nervous.

"Yeah? You seemed kinda, I don't know, afraid of the topic or something. Why?" Seeing Yuma nervous was weird. He never got nervous about anything. It made Ryoga feel weird.

"Th-that's because you need, well." Yuma closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He then stared at Ryoga as best as he could. "You need my saliva to do it."

What.

Yuma's face was red. "You need to ingest some of it."

"Okay." Ryoga could feel his face heating up. So this is what had Yuma all worried. Something like this. Why.

Yuma looked shocked. "You're okay with that? You know what that means? What you have to-"

"Yes! I know!" Ryoga unintentionally shouted. "Ah! I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'm just...Surprised. Is all." Yuma stared back at him, mouth agape. It slowly turned into a smile as he began to laugh.

"Heh, heh. Yeah. Me too." Ryoga whispered to himself. Sure, he had crushes before, on humans. All kinds of humans. A pretty face was a pretty face, and he liked pretty faces. But he was too nervous and or weird to go and talk to them. He had a reputation, after all. Even if it wasn't necessarily a good one, but he had to keep his image. But out here, at the beachy house, he had no reputation. No image to keep up. He could kiss all the pretty faces he wanted.

He liked pretty faces. And he liked Yuma's pretty face. He really liked Yuma's pretty face.

"So, I understand if you don't want to-"

"No. I mean, yes. I mean. I mean..." Ryoga's head was spinning. He had been wanting to kiss that pretty face for a long while now, and here was the perfect opportunity.

"Ha ha ha!" Yuma laughed even harder. "Oh, humans are fun." He wiped a tear from his eye. "But whatever the case. Um..." Yuma's smile faded and he fiddled with his fingers again.

Ryoga scooted closer to Yuma, setting a hand over Yuma's. "Yuma, I-"

"Th-this is a very, well, um, very...uh, intimate thing for us to do." He looked up at Ryoga, "And we don't just do this with anyone."

"Yuma-"

"In fact, we aren't even supposed to so this with humans anymore because of what our ancestors did in the past. Stealing them off shores and boats and stuff. Did you know that we used to eat human? That was like, lots and lots of years ago, but still. I bet some of us still do it to this day and-"

"Yuma." Ryoga grabbed Yuma's hands. "You're rambling."

"So I am. Ha ha." Yuma just continued to laugh. He was so nervous, he just laughed. "I don't mean to. It just happens." He leaned his head on Ryoga's chest. "I laugh when I'm nervous. Ha ha."

"I can see that." Ryoga tried not to laugh as well. He was nervous too.

Yuma looked back up at him. "I'm sorry. I'm just." He sighed. Ryoga could feel his hands shaking.

"It's okay. Do you just wanna spit in my mouth?" It was an absurd notion. They both knew it.

Yuma nearly headbutted Ryoga reeling back with laughter, face still red. "Oh my! OH OH!" Ryoga smiled at that. At least he lightened the mood. Maybe. Yuma put a hand on Ryoga's shoulder. "No, no. That's totally okay." He cleared his throat, trying to kill the laughter. "Uh. Yeah."

Ryoga smiled and reached for Yuma's face, holding it in his hands. "So." The nervous smile on Yuma's face was just too cute. "May I?"

Yuma's taste was sweet.

Was that why he asked if Ryoga liked sweet things?

Ryoga felt his stomach tingle. This was weird. He had felt fluttery for the past hour, and nearly every time he was with Yuma, but this was different. He grabbed the back of Yuma's head, and abruptly parted when the tingle grew into pain.

"Oh, oh no! Are you okay?" Yuma grabbed Ryoga's shoulders.

"Ye-yeah. Stomach just hurts a little, that's all." He took a deep breath. This was getting painful.

A few minutes later, and the pain subsided. Yuma had concluded if was his fault, apologizing profusely and holding his hands, continually asking if there was anything he could do, despite his lack of knowledge about humans. Ryoga simply tried to laugh it off, not wanting to worry Yuma, or his pretty face.

That was one goal accomplished. Ryoga couldn't be happier about it. He got to kiss that pretty face. And he enjoyed it.

He felt his hands itch. They looked a little bit different.

"Yuma." Ryoga nudged Yuma. "What does this mean?" His hands were starting to get small webbings on them. And they itched like hell.

"AH! I've only heard about this, actually." He grabbed one of Ryoga's hands, turning it over and back. "This is why you needed the saliva. When one of us cares enough about a human, a change can happen to the human. It kinda turns them into one of us."

"Oh. WHAT." Become a merperson? Really? "You can't be serious!" On the other hand, he heard that bit about caring. He was happy and very worried. "This, this isn't permanent, is it? I can't go back to my parents like this. I can't go back to school, I can't I can't-"

"Don't worry! I'll find out something, I promise! Although, I don't know if I can keep that promise..." Yuma was panicking too. This was new, for both of them.

"Later. We can worry about this later. I hope. I really hope." Ryoga kissed Yuma lightly and smiled. "But for now, let's go swimming. I mean, wasn't that the original...point?"

Yuma smiled and laughed. "Part of it, yeah."

So Yuma had the same idea. Nice.

The ocean was warm down under the waves. Ryoga had no idea if it was from now being part merperson or because Yuma was there. All he knew was that he could hold his breath for an absurd amount of time, and it took some getting used to. This was just weird. All of it. Seeing the sky from under the water had always been cool in pools, but in the ocean, it was something else entirely.

It was incredible. He loved it. He loved the ocean. He loved being here, right now. He loved Yuma.

By the time that the sun had started to set, Ryoga could notice that the itchy hand webbings were going away. A good sign, but kind of sad too. He was glad to have his hands back to normal, but it meant leaving Yuma to the ocean.

Ryoga and Yuma sat by the sandy cliff. 

"I'm happy that you went back to normal." Yuma sighed with relief as he threw his arms around Ryoga and squeezed him tight. "Now you won;t get any wierd questions from your parents or Rio, ha ha."

"Yeah. Rio would have drilled me good." Thinking about that was not in Ryoga's best interest. Rio could be ridiculous, and she had been even more ridiculous now that he was gone pretty much every single day. He hugged Yuma back.

"Okay." Yuma grinned ear to ear.

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."

They gave each other an extra firm pat and parted ways for the day.

Ryoga couldn't be happier. Was this considered a merdate? Maybe? Kind of sorta? He hoped it was. He would ask Yuma about it next time.

The next few weeks were incredible. Ryoga had never been happier in his life. He had gotten used to the weird pain from the itchy web hands, and was getting better at holding his breath under the water. Over time, Yuma also began to open up more, and he was glad about that.

More than half of the 4 month summer was gone, and Ryoga tried his best to not think about it. Yuma was here, he was happy. He could attribute it as "summer love", but this felt like more than that. Maybe he was just being a stupid kid, but he didn't care. He was happy. Yuma was happy. And that was all that mattered.

Ryoga would constantly being new and weird food and drink for Yuma to try, and Yuma would always react in surprising ways.

Yuma loved soda, pretty much anything carbonated, he loved it. Same for sugary sport drinks. Ryoga attributed it to the excessive amounts of taurine. He also really loved the crappy hotdogs that sat on the rollers too long. Ryoga never really got into eating raw fish. Not even when he was swimming deep in the ocean.

"Hey, what's going on?" Ryoga noticed that Rio was folding blankets and putting them in the closet.

"We leave soon, so I'm getting a head start of putting everything away. Unlike someone I know."

Ryoga's face paled. What day was it. How much time had passed without him noticing? He wasnt ready to leave. He didn't want to leave.

"When?" Was all he could manage.

"Don't wanna leave your boyfriend? I understand. 4 days." Rio patted him on the shoulder. Ryoga looked up at her. "Give him something. Anything. You've been the happiest I've seen you in a long time. Give him something to remind him of you and you of him while you're gone. We come here every year. If he doesn't move, I'm sure he'll be here next year."

She was right. But still.

"No. But. Yuma is-"

"I know about your weird fishy boyfriend. And no, I haven't told mom or dad." She laughed. "Maybe next year he could introduce me to a cute fishy person too?"

This was a disaster. He knew that summer would end, but this was too soon. He didn't want summer to end. He wanted to stay here forever. Forever with Yuma. He wanted to be at the beachy house forever.

He sat in bed the entire day, forgetting to go and see Yuma. Rio went in his place.

"Hey, fishboy." She called out to the sandy cliff. "I'm here for Ryoga. He can't make it today."

"Oh." Yuma swam near the shore, head hanging.

Rio smiled at him. "Don't worry. Ryoga will be back tomorrow. I'll make sure he is. I'm Rio, his sister."

Ryoga finally woke up and rolled from the bed. The sun was setting.

"You know that you really should do something for him. Give him something." Rio handed him a plate with dinner on it.

"You said the same thing yesterday."

"Yeah, but I mean it."

Ryoga took the plate and stealthily pushed the peppers from the rice. He ate in silence for a while.

"You know, I met with him today."

At first, Ryoga was scared, then surprised, then amazed. Yuma talked with Rio at length about a lot of things. And Rio talked with Yuma. She didn't tell him everything, but enough to get him started thinking again.

Rio handed him a waterproof camera. He took it with a reluctant smile.

"Give him something good." Rio smiled at him.

And he tried to do just that. He took the camera and showed it to Yuma, explaining it's purpose.

"I've seen them before, but I don't think I've ever been in a picture before. How does it work?" Yuma took the bright yellow camera in his hands.

"Ah ha!" Ryoga grinned and laughed. "This is a digital camera. We can see the pictures right after they are taken." He glanced over at Rio who had come with him.

"OH! WOW!" Yuma's eyes lit up. "So you can be here with me even when you aren't! This is incredible!" Yuma squealed when he handed the camera back to Ryoga.

"Okay, okay. Enough with that, let's take some nice pictures!" Rio grabbed the camera from Ryoga.

The day was full of fun and laughter. Yuma was intrigued with every picture taken, and being able to see them right away. He even volunteered to take some of Rio and Ryoga.

Ryoga tried his best, and even forgot, even if it was temporary, that there was only 2 days left here at the beachy house. 

Rio left after lunch, saying that she would be back soon. 

The rest of the day was spent being lazy, sleeping on the sand in the nice warm sun.

Ryoga was awoken by the ocean licking his heels. Was it that late already. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, carefully draping Yuma back onto the sand. He looked so perfect, so happy.

He reached for the camera that was in his backpack and took a picture.

The next day he met Yuma by the sandy cliff, towing a waterproof box. Yuma piloted them towards the island with the small pond, Ryoga nearly getting caught up in an errant currant. He wasn't nearly as strong of a swimmer as Yuma, he attributed it to the tail.

Sitting at the small pond, Ryoga pulled the top off the box and handed Yuma some papers.

"What are these?" Yuma held them in his hands. They were laminated. "AH!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ryoga smiled, happy that Yuma was happy with them. "I went and got the pictures laminated so that they wouldn't get ruined in the ocean. There's other ones too, that aren't laminated, they're in the box. You can have the box too." He rubbed the back of his neck. Giving gifts wasn't something he was particularly excellent at. He was never good at it. It always ended in a shoving the thing in their face type deal. Rio had just come to accept it. Yuma didn't seem to care at all. very like him.

"It's us! It's us on the paper!" He looked at each one with a large grin on his face. "And you said there's more!" Yuma grabbed at the waterproof box. He was so happy. "What's this?" He held up a smaller box, one made of paper.

Ryoga snatched it from him. "THATS NOTHING." He shoved it into his backpack. "DONT WORRY ABOUT IT."

"COME ON!" Yuma reached for the bag as well. "LEMME SEE"

"NO! AH!" A quick kiss from Yuma made him drop the box, causing a small cheer and the tiny lid to be throw away. "GIVE IT BACK! That was unfair!"

Yuma laughed sinisterly as he pulled out a wad of paper and smoothed it over his hand. Inside the paper sat a simple silver ring.

"Please give it back. I-I wanted to wait." Ryoga hesitated as he reached for it.

"I know this ring." Yuma grabbed Ryoga's left hand. "This is your ring." He ran his thumb over Ryoga's index finger, following the small indent that was there.

"It is. And I want you to have it." Ryoga grabbed the ring and Yuma's left hand. "I wanted to give you something that would remind you of me, and me of you, and this was the best thing that I could think of." He slipped in on Yuma's finger, smiling. "Please take it."

"Rio said that you would do this." Yuma chuckled, touching the ring on his finger.

"She did? Whe-ah. Of course she did."

"You even took her line, ha ha." Yuma flung his arms around Ryoga.

"So I did." Ryoga smiled as he buried his face in Yuma's hair. "There's lots of other things in the box too. Food, drink, especially that funky one you like. I grabbed a lot of those for you."

They sat in silence for a while.

"I'm really going to miss you." Yuma said sullenly.

"I'll be back next year. And the year after that. I'll be old enough to live here by then. Just wait. I'll make it happen."

The summer was done. It was over. 4 months in the gross humid beachy house were over. He had to go back to school. Back to town. Back to regular boring life. Ryoga didn't want to leave, Yuma didn't want him to leave. But time moved on, and there was always next year. And the year after that.

Ryoga stared at the picture he had taken of Yuma on the beach. Sleeping in the orange setting sun. He smiled when he thought about it.

He was going to make it happen.

**Author's Note:**

> fish people. lots of liberties taken about fish people, and i regret none of it.
> 
> I aged everyone up like, to 17ish. Makes everything seem like a better fit.
> 
> I kept making it longer, and making things harder on myself. I wanted to end it sooner on a better note, but I suck at that.  
> even though this was made for the prompt, i think i really do like how this one turned out. mostly. im terrible at writing anything other than mindless fluff. mostly that because thats how my own life is.
> 
> I LAUGH WHEN NERVOUS, EVEN WHEN KISSING.


End file.
